Institute on Religion & Democracy

06/18/2026

This spring the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with Counselor Kaley Chiles' free speech claims in a March 31 decision that Colorado’s ban on professional counseling against homosexuality or transgenderism for minors was both an “egregious assault” on free speech and guilty of “viewpoint discrimination.”

'Conversion therapy' bans attack Christian faith and morals at a very basic level, the level of sexual morality.

06/17/2026

This week IRD's Mark Tooley joins the Holy Smoke podcast to discuss recent argumentation around Pentagon classifications of religious traditions. Are Mormons Christian? Can the government and state ever have a role in this debate?

Who gets to decide whether a person is Christian or not? Can the government and state ever have a role in this debate?

06/16/2026

A preliminary report from the conservative Presbyterian Church in America has denounced most of what is associated with self-identified advocates of Christian Nationalism, which is good news. But, IRD's Mark Tooley asks, do denominational declarations still matter?

A preliminary report from the conservative Presbyterian Church in America denounces most of what is associated with self-identified advocates of Christian Nationalism, which is good news. But do denominational declarations still matter?

06/16/2026

This week IRD welcomes summer intern Lauren Fricke, a rising junior at Dallas Baptist University, where she studies Politics, Philosophy, and Economics and Spanish, with a minor in Honors Great Texts. She loves traveling, discussing cultural and political issues, participating in the IPDA debate league, and studying the intersection of economics and foreign policy through a philosophical and holistic lens. Welcome, Lauren!

06/15/2026

An increasing number of local Anglican churches are expressing gratitude to congregations of other Christian traditions that have entrusted buildings they long stewarded to Anglicans. The purchase price? Free, or close to it.

An increasing number of Anglican congregations are expressing gratitude to churches of other traditions that have entrusted them buildings.

06/15/2026

Join us this Saturday, June 20 for a professional women’s brunch featuring Simone Rizkallah of the Coalition of Catholics Against Antisemitism. Food, mimosas, and time for networking from 11am-12:30pm. This event is for women and guests are encouraged! RSVP at the link in the comments below.

06/12/2026

Surprisingly, those most interested in Pope Leo's new encyclical on artificial intelligence have been secular, rather than other churches.

Secular outlets have taken great interest in Magnifica Humanitas, but a limited response from churches to Pope Leo’s 42,000-word encyclical is surprising.

06/11/2026

No doubt the Apostle Paul had reflected many times over the years how wrong he had been about the Church before Jesus confronted him on the road to Damascus, Mike Powers writes in Good News Magazine.

By tracing Saul's transformation into Paul, Mike Powers reminds us that what is right about the Church is its God-given ability to help people begin, belong, and become who God created them to be through faith, community, and shared mission.

06/11/2026

Freedom of religion is the first link in the chain that locks in and restricts the state so that citizens can live in freedom, notes Jacob Rudenstrand of the Evangelical Alliance of Sweden. For believers and non-believers alike, it lays the foundation for a liberal society.

IRD's Mark Tooley chats with Jacob Rudenstrand of the Evangelical Alliance of Sweden on his new book The First Right: Freedom to Religion. Freedom from Religion.

06/10/2026

“But it is generally his pleasure to work by his creatures: to help man by man. He honours men to be, in this sense, ‘workers together with him’. By this means the reward is ours, while the glory redounds to him.” -John Wesley

There is a greater calling, to be a co-worker with God, to participate in his work in the world, and to be transformed in the process.